1815583 (Refugee)

This matter concerned an application for a protection visa by a Coptic Christian woman from Egypt. The applicant claimed she feared persecution due to a personal dispute with a former colleague, being blamed for converting a client to Christianity, and her identity as a Coptic Christian woman in Egypt. She alleged she had faced discrimination in the workplace, received threats to convert to Islam, and had been subjected to physical and sexual assault, as well as death threats, by Muslim extremists. The applicant also contended that she would not receive protection from Egyptian state agencies. The Federal Court remitted the decision for reconsideration by the Tribunal.

The Tribunal was required to determine whether the applicant had established that she would, if returned to Egypt, engage Australia's non-refoulement obligations under the Migration Act 1958 (Cth). This involved assessing whether she had a well-founded fear of persecution based on her membership of a particular social group, specifically Coptic Christian women in Egypt, and whether she would be unable to obtain protection from the Egyptian authorities. The Tribunal also considered the relevance of gender-based violence and the applicant's fragile mental and physical health in its assessment.

In its reasoning, the Tribunal took account of Ministerial Direction No. 84, the Refugee Law Guidelines, Complementary Protection Guidelines, and country information assessments from DFAT. It accepted the applicant was a Coptic Christian woman and noted her membership in a Melbourne congregation. The Tribunal considered the applicant's husband's statutory declaration detailing alleged incidents of discrimination, threats, physical and sexual assault, and destruction of property, as well as the police's alleged refusal to take statements due to fear of Muslim reaction. The Tribunal also noted the applicant's claims of being followed and receiving phone calls demanding conversion, and specific instances of assault where her cross necklace was targeted and she was verbally abused. The Tribunal acknowledged the applicant's stated fear that these threats would be carried out if she returned to Egypt.